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Donations fueling state-rep race

Late surge for Tran, who trails Hay in fundraising

By Anna Burgess, aburgess@sentinelandenterprise.com

Updated:
02/29/2016 08:07:40 AM EST

FITCHBURG -- In the last month of campaign fundraising, one of the candidates for state representative has seen a late surge in donations, while the other has seen a fairly steady stream taper slightly.

City Councilors Stephan Hay, a Democrat, and Dean Tran, a Republican, have spent the past four months cam-

paigning to represent the 3rd Worcester District in the state House of Representatives. Both men have worked hard to get their message out to voters, who will vote Tuesday to decide the successor for Stephen DiNatale, who was state representative until he became mayor of Fitchburg.

Hay and Tran have both been fundraising since late October. While Hay's donations from supporters were more front-loaded, and he has a received a slower but steady stream of donations in the last two months, Tran has received more donations in the last few weeks of his campaign than in the first few months.

Between Jan. 16 and Feb. 12, Hay received only six itemized donations, plus $100 in unitemized donations of less than $50, for a total of $1,600 in donations. Tran received 42 itemized donations, including several less than $50, for a total of $7,595 in donations.

Combined with the money he raised before the primary, Tran has raised $14,405 total, according to filed reports.

Hay has raised $17,540 total.

"But the reality is, I've spent (everything I raised)," Hay said.

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"Asking people for money is certainly, to me, the most unpleasant part of campaigning or being a candidate, but you need it to try and level the playing field."

Hay added that he raised more in the first couple months of his campaign than in the last month because "you can't keep going to the well so often."

He also needed to raise more before the primary than Tran did, said Hay, because there were two other Democratic candidates in the primary.

"(Tran) was unopposed, and I had to run a campaign," he explained.

During the previous campaign filing period, between Oct. 16 and Jan. 15, Hay received $15,940 in donations, including $2,490 from donations each $50 or less, and 63 itemized donations. This means he received at least 113 total donations, likely more, during that time period.

Tran received $6,830 in donations between Oct. 16 and Jan. 15. Because he chose to itemize all his contributions, including those below $50, his exact total of 64 donations is visible.

Tran said it was "not intentional" to raise more money during this second period than during the October-January period.

"Our message resonated with a lot of people, I think," he said. "And before, a lot of people didn't make contributions because they didn't know if we'd make it onto the ballot."

Tran's notable donations this period included $100 from House Minority Leader Brad Jones, $100 from Republican State Committee member Frank Ardinger, $200 from former Fitchburg Mayor Dan Mylott, and $100 from Jon Golnik, the Worcester County regional director of the Massachusetts Office of Business Development.

Hay's notable donations included $250 from the Fitchburg Police Union, $500 from the Massachusetts Correction Officers Federated Union PAC, and $400 from the Massachusetts and New England Northern Laborers' District Council PAC.

Neither candidate received financial support from their respective state parties, but Hay said he was grateful to receive support in the form of manpower.

"You take whatever support (the party is) going to give you," said Hay. "There are people phone-banking, leafletting, and we're very appreciative of everybody who gives up their time to help."

Tran said the Massachusetts Republican Party has loaned his campaign equipment, as well as sent out mailers supporting him.

On the spending side, both candidates have done more since the pre-primary period.

Hay, who spent $8,658 before the primary, spent $9,340 in the more recent period, including almost $5,000 on printing and mailing literature.

Tran, who spent $4,161 before the primary, spent $6,317 this period, including just over $1,500 on door-hanging signs, and just under $1,500 on postage.

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